Europe and Health

Under the EU Treaty, the EU can take action on health. It must aim to improve public health, prevent human illness and diseases, and identify sources of danger to human health, while fully respecting the responsibilities of the Member States for the organisation and delivery of health services and health care.

In practice though, several EU policies impact on health and health systems (be it on professional mobility, agriculture and food, research etc...)

EPHA has joined more than 50 civil society organisations to create the ‘Better Regulation Watchdog’ – a network to protect citizens’, workers’ and consumers’ rights and health. The network was launched on 18 May in Brussels, one day ahead of the expected announcement of the European Commission’s Better Regulation initiative presented by First Vice-President Frans Timmermans.
OPEN LETTER from the Better Regulation Watchdog Network in response to (...)

November 2014 - The new Commission under President Jean-Claude Juncker officially took office on 1st November. EPHA has closely monitored the evaluation process of the new College of Commissioners and collected the health relevant commitments the Commissioners for Health and Food Safety; Internal Market, Industry, Entrepeneurship and SMEs; and Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobilty.
Vytenis Andriukatis, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety (EPHA evaluation of his (...)

October 2014 - In 2012, EPHA published its first ‘facts and figures’ briefing on the impacts of the economic crisis on health. Two years later, the revised and updates briefing finds that the impacts of austerity politics and economic recession continue to threaten the health and wellbeing of Europeans.
Trends in increased suicide rates, unemployment, social exclusion and unmet health needs prevail, most acutely in the newer member states and in those receiving financial (...)

A new report on medicines shortages experienced in European healthcare systems reveals that over 86% of hospital pharmacists are experiencing difficulties in sourcing medicines with 66% reporting this as a daily or weekly problem. The top affected areas are medicines to fight infection, cancer drugs and anesthetics.
Brussels, 17 November 2014 - The report by the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP), surveyed the experiences of over 600 hospital pharmacists in 36 European (...)

Carlos Moedas (age 44) studied engineering at Lisbon University, Portugal and an MBA at Harvard University, USA. He worked for Goldman Sachs and EuroHypo investment bank before returning to Portugal in 2004 to join a property consulting company, and established his own property investment company in 2008. He led negotiations for the Social Democratic Party (PSD) for Portugal’s 2011 State Budget. He was elected as an MP in the same year, and leading implementation of the (...)

Brussels, 30 October 2014 - On 29 July 2014, the European Ombudsman opened an own-initiative inquiry towards the European Commission concerning transparency and public participation in relation to the TTIP negotiations (OI/10/2014/RA). The present public consultation concerns that inquiry.
The outcome of the TTIP negotiations could have a significant impact on the lives of citizens. The aim of the Ombudsman’s inquiry is to help ensure that the public can follow the progress of these (...)

EPHA welcomes the Commission’s publication of comprehensive consultation guidelines. Smart regulation should mean fair and citizen-centred policy making that brings tangible benefits to the citizens of Europe and improves their quality of life. This involves greater use of evidence-based impact assessment and improving the consultation process.
The aim of the guidelines should be to ensure transparency and representativeness. Publishing consultation responses, as well as explanations (...)

October 22th 2014, Brussels – The NGO signatories of this statement wholeheartedly welcome the announcement of the reversal of the decision by President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker to move the competence for pharmaceutical and medical devices to the enterprise directorate (1).
Following negotiations within the European Parliament and concerns expressed by a number of member states, President-elect Juncker stated today that the "responsibility for medicines and pharmaceutical products (...)

Health is a fundamental universal right and access to medicines is part of it. The EU and its Member States are committed to universal and equitable access to healthcare. Nevertheless, millions of European patients suffer from the lack of affordability of many life-saving medicines across Europe.
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An event under the auspices of MEPs Nessa CHILDERS (S&D, IE), Beatriz BECERRA BASTERRECHEA (ALDE, ES), Kostas (...)

14 October 2014, Brussels - . The European Commission’s High Level Group on Administrative Burdens (1), chaired by Dr Edmund Stoiber, has drawn severe criticism from 4 of a total of 15 Members (2) for its final report (3) pushing an outdated, deregulatory agenda.
Almost one third of ‘Stoiber group’ members oppose biased final report
The views of members representing trade unions, environmental groups, consumer organisations and health groups are presented in a (...)

Credits

The European Public Health Alliance runs projects which receive financial support from the European Commission. The views expressed in this website do not necessarily reflect the official views of the EU institutions.